Traffic Jammin? with Janis Mara ? Every Monday at 2pm on Claycord.com
TRAFFIC JAMMER: Greetings, all! This Claycord.com column is for everyone who negotiates the highways and public transit of the Bay Area. It runs every Monday at 2 p.m. and answers your commuting and transportation questions. Email your questions to trafficjammin@claycord.com.
COMMUTER: I have a sports car with a very small back seat area that does have seat belts. Would it qualify as a two-seater for carpool purposes, thus allowable for carpool lane with two persons in the vehicle? I looked up the Caltrans regulations, and they say it?s up to the manufacturer. I can?t figure out what the manufacturer intended.
?Puzzled
TRAFFIC JAMMER: As the very sharp readers of Claycord.com know, the number of people that constitutes a carpool varies on our highways. Puzzled is doubtless referring to one of the sections of Interstate 80 that requires three passengers to make a carpool. Obviously, if one?s car has only two seats, one cannot be required to stuff a third passenger in the trunk or position them on the second passenger?s lap to make the requisite three persons in the vehicle, so Puzzled wants to know if her car qualifies as a two-seater.
Since the California Highway Patrol?s law enforcement officers are the people who enforce the rules regarding high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the Jammer consulted with a CHP officer. The verdict: If the car has seat belts in the back, then it has seats in the back, and hence is not a two-seater.
While we?re on the subject of HOV lanes, the Jammer can?t resist passing along this endearing piece of prose from, of all places, the official Caltrans website: ?Each vehicle that travels on an HOV lane must carry the minimum number of people posted at the entrance signs. Usually that means at least two people, or in some cases three people. Each child counts as an occupant, but pets, infants still in the womb, inflatable dolls or ghosts do not (we?ve heard ?em all).? For more information, click HERE.
COMMUTER: I am very confused/frustrated by the obvious conflict between these two traffic laws:
- Legal Speed limit is XX
- Slow traffic keep right
This means that if I am OBEYING the LAW and driving the LEGAL, POSTED SPEED LIMIT, I MUST move over so that the Road Bullies who are BREAKING the law and SPEEDING, can get past me! Seems like something needs to be changed here. Either we obey the speed limit, or we do away with it and let the speedsters take over the highways. Janis, can you help us out here????
?Cranky Ol? Me
TRAFFIC JAMMER: Aw, COM (as in ?Cranky Ol? Me?), I totally sympathize with your frustration. It is indeed maddening to be dutifully obeying the speed limit, acting like an adult and hence forestalling potentially life-threatening crashes, while nearly getting blown off the highway in the wake of speeding drivers zooming past. The Jammer hopes you can take some comfort in the sagacious comments of other Claycordians on this matter, one of whom pointed out that as you roll along safely in your lane to the right of the suicidal maniacs, you can enjoy watching them get picked off one by one as our protectors, the CHP, mete out justice.
TRAFFIC JAMMER: Last week, Curious of Concord wrote in about the huge dip where Clayton Road intersects with Market in Concord near the onramp for southbound Highway 242. Since then, many other Claycordians have chimed in with their stories of heads banged on car ceilings and other nasty incidents caused by the dip.
The Jammer spoke with Ray Kuzbari, Concord?s transportation manager. Kuzbari looked into the matter and determined that this part of the road is not the responsibility of Caltrans, but of the City.
?We will be looking into this more closely,? Kuzbari told the Jammer. ?Market Street has a high crown,? meaning that the middle of the street is noticeably higher than the sides. ?The reason the street curves like that is for drainage.? In other words, the side of the road slopes down so water will flow into the storm drain system when it rains and the intersection won?t become a pond.
?Market Street is not flat; it slopes down on one side. When it meets Clayton Road it goes down lower than Clayton Road. We are going to look into it and check the drainage issues,? Kuzbari said. The transportation manager is reliable about following up, Claycordians, so we?ll doubtless hear more from him as the situation unfolds.
TRAFFIC JAMMER: The Jammer has been trying to come up with a quiz for you, Claycordians, but it is difficult because you are so smart. Let?s see if this this seven-word clue is tough enough: ?Son, you?re gonna drive me to drinkin???
What are the next nine words? First three folks with the correct answer get a mention in the column.
That?s it for this week ? see you next Monday. Be sure to cruise by Claycord.com at 2pm for more traffic intelligence.
Remember, whether you drive, walk, bike or hop Amtrak, BART or AC Transit, Traffic Jammer Janis Mara is here to answer your questions.
Send your questions to trafficjammin@claycord.com.
ryan braun bryce harper may day paulina gretzky paulina gretzky stoudemire jordan hill
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